


Colors Across Enemy Lines

by Xhaira



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, F/F, POV Garlean Soldier, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29912919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xhaira/pseuds/Xhaira
Summary: A Garlean soldier ruminates on losing the ability to see colors over time, and the consequence of suddenly seeing her favorite color on the battlefield.
Relationships: Warrior of Light/Garlean Soldier
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	Colors Across Enemy Lines

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Onyrica's February Art/Creative Challenge -- Love, Forbidden/Unattainable Love, Love Tropes, etc.
> 
> I've been wanting to do a WoL/Garlean Soldier fic for a while, and this prompt fit it well enough that I decided to go for it! Both the Garlean soldier and the WoL are unnamed.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

The greens had gone first. 

Despite having been unable to see in anything but dull grays and occasional muted browns for nearly two decades, she remembered the color; the vibrancy of the moss that covered some of the rocks partially submerged in the river next to her parent’s shack. The deep forest green of the homemade paints she had as a child. It was her favorite color. Not everyone lost their colors, so when adulthood began to leech the gorgeous shades of green from her sight, she mourned its permanent absence in her life. Because to regain that beautiful color was to be leashed to a soulmate.

Soulmates, whether platonic or romantic, were a rare occurrence in Ilsabard, and even rarer where Garlean soldiers were plentiful. Hawk-eyed soldiers were known to report even the slightest hint of a soulmate pair, and the ending result of that discovery was never a good one. Soulmate pairs who were (un)lucky enough to find each other often kept it secret and avoided each other for life. Because a soulmate was undoubtedly a Garlean tool for control, forced obedience, and in unfortunate cases -- a source of mental and emotional anguish. 

Over the next two years, she lost each color -- sometimes with the very slow dulling of it, other times with a color completely disappearing overnight. The reds left her sight last, and she found solace in the dampening of the color; she had long grown weary of seeing that color leaking from her dying comrades and friends whenever they clashed with Eorzean forces. 

_ Much like today _ , she mused to herself as another Garlean soldier fell to the ground with a pained cry, slaughtered by a warrior that had just joined the fight only moments earlier but had easily taken down a quarter of their unit. 

She turned to the deadly, axe-bearing woman on the battlefield and was shocked to find beastly green eyes glaring at her from amongst the still muted grays that dominated her vision. 

The greens had gone first. 

So then why, after so many years of dull grays, was the color haunting her? No, it couldn’t be...

She had little time to dwell on the shocking return of that single, beautiful color and the revelation that came with it before the warrior let out a ferocious battle roar and charged towards her. It was then that she recognized the beast coming straight for her -- the famed Warrior of Light. 

The Warrior of Light was her soulmate. And a death sentence. 

Worse than a death sentence if anyone found out. 

But no one ever would, because death’s embrace called as the warrior’s axe began its downward momentum. Time slowed, and the soldier saw the moment the warrior realized that she wasn’t just some enemy to be cut down. The Warrior of Light’s fierce scowl began to slack, and something akin to fear -- to horror -- reached her eyes. The soldier wouldn’t stand to have the memory of those emotions reflected in her favorite color upon her own death, and turned her gaze on the sharp edge of the weapon closing in on her. It was stained red. 

She hated that color. 

**Author's Note:**

> Does the Garlean soldier get axed in the face? Or does the WoL manage to curb the path of her axe in time to miss the enemy with the bright, blue eyes?
> 
> Who knows, not me :)


End file.
